Boot and shoe



(No Model.)

B. L. SPRAGUE. Boot and Shoe.

4 .89 Patented May 24,1881.

' flqeg-sesf Irp/Eqimr UNITED STATES PATENT OrricE.

BOOT AND SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,892, dated May 24, 1881. Application filed March .36, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatI, EDWIN L. SPRAGUE, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have lnvented a new and useful Improvement in Boots and Shoes, of which the duction of a novel box'toe composed of metal.

Boots and shoes up to this time, so far as I am aware, have been provided with box-toes of diiferent shapes composed of leather, leather-board, and in dia-rubber, such materials having been molded or bent into the desired form or shape to be secured in the shoe at the toe thereof.

The better class of box-toes are composed of leather, making them quite expensive, but the great majority of box-toes are composed of leather-board. A box-toe composed of leather-board, when the shoe is wet through, easily bends down or upon the top of the foot, in which condition it is most apt to remain, as it cannot be readily raised and kept to its original shape, thus injuring the foot and making the shoe very uncomfortable to the wearer, and this is true,.to a considerable extent,with leather.

I have discovered that a very light and very rigid box-toe may be made of sheet metal, such as tin, thereby enabling me to make a very durable and cheap box-toe, one-which may be produced at a trifling cost from small pieces of waste tin. To give this metal box-toe additional rigidity at the place where it is most exposed to being bent down or out of place, and yet enable me to use light-weight metal, and also to prevent the sharp edge of the tin 40 from cutting or tearing the upper or leather,

I have contrived to turn over or flange that end of the box-toe which extends backward over the toe of the shoe.

Figure 1. represents, in side elevation, a but- 5 ton-gaiter with the toe broken out or in section, to show the upper, toe-cap, and box-toe. Fig. 2 represents a metal blank, like that from which the box-toe represented in Fig. l was formed; and Fig. 3 is a rear view of the boxtoe in the shape it will occupy in the shoe.

In the drawings, or represents a vamp or up' per,and b the toe-cap, of a shoe of ordinary construction; a, the outer sole, and d the inner sole.

The metal blank 0, preferably of tin, and shaped substantially as in Fig. 2, has its longer edge e turned over upon itself, as represented in dotted lines, Fig. 2, and in full lines, Fig. 1, to stiffen that edge, and also present a smooth edge which will not out the material of which the upper is composed, the fold being herein shown as an upward one, as in Fig. 1, but it may, if desired, be turned down. This metal blank 6 may be shaped in any of the forms now common for blanks for box-toes, and may be brought into suitable shape for a box-toe by the use of dies or molds of propenform, and may be secured into the toe of the shoe as represented in Fig. 1, the said box-toe keeping the toe of the shoe elevated, protecting the toe of the wearer of the shoe or boot, and keeping the upper from bearing down thereon. The fold in the edge of the blank or box-toe adds very materially to its stiti'ness, and the metal being light, should it become indented, may be pushed or bentout again into its original shape, where it will remain.

' I am aware that tips for boots and shoes have been made of metal applied to the toe of and outside the upper to prevent the toe of the upper cutting through; but I am not aware that a metal toe-cap has ever been used to distend or keep the top part of the shoe elevated.

I have shown the box-toe as placed between the upper and the cap; but I desire it to be understood that the said box-toe may be placed between the upper and the upper-lining, if desired.

The portion of the metal blank, Fig. 2, between its shorter edge and the dotted line thereon will be drawn or swaged by a male and female die to bend the said portion down or over, as in Fig. 3, to form the part 0 which serves for the front wall of the box-toe.

I claim- As an improved article of manufacture, a box-toe composed of sheet metal, having its edge flanged or bent over upon itself, as shown and described.

In testimony whereofI have signedmy name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, EDWIN L. S'PBAGUE.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, ARTHUR REYNOLDS. 

